Chapter 21: Ghoul’s Trap│Read translated stories and daily updates at: Awebstories.com
In the dungeon, there is no such thing as day and night.
As the concept of time blurs, the timing of meals and breaks follows instinct.
“Should we take a break today?”
Leonhardt says to her in a place that is a room where they can sleep and rest.
“Yes, I think so. I’m a little tired.”
“We’ll take turns watching. You can take a break now.”
“Can’t I just put up a barrier?”
Lysette has a habit of putting a barrier around herself when she eats or rests. If a monster attacks you while you’re doing something else, you have no chance of getting away scot-free.
“That would be great. But it’s better if someone is awake, just in case.”
“Okay.”
She obeys, makes a magical campfire, casts the barrier, and spreads the sleeping bag on the ground.
“Good night, Leon.”
“Well, good night.”
She climbed into her sleeping bag and promptly fell asleep, probably more tired than she expected. Then she had a strange dream…
A strange dream where everything seems to be too quiet, like red, loud, or extreme colors.
Leonhardt and she switched watches and went to bed twice that night until they got rid of their fatigue.
After the last shift, she washed her face and made breakfast. The last unicorn meat, a soup with dried antidote grass, harpy eggs and some butter.
Then she lightly baked the bread.
“Good morning, Lysette…”
She considers waking Leonhardt, but he rises before she can say anything.
“Good morning. Dinner is prepared.”
Warm soup and crusty bread nourish both the body and the spirit.
“…By the way, Leon, do you know any monsters that make you dream?”
Lysette heaved a sigh of relief as she took a sip of her drink and asked a question during a conversation.
“Hmm… Did you have an unusual dream?”
“I can’t remember exactly—I think I had a dream where a woman was talking to me… I’m not sure how to put it, but it was a very colorful, strange feeling…”
“I take it it’s not a succubus…”
“What’s a succubus?”
Leonhardt paused for a moment before answering.
“… No, let’s not talk about it anymore.”
“No way! You have aroused my intellectual curiosity!”
According to Leonhardt, it is most likely a monster that appears in or manipulates a dream. It is a dangerous monster that appears while you are asleep and unprotected. However, if it only appears in a dream, it can’t do too much damage.
—Anyway, I am curious.
Leonhardt hesitantly opened his mouth.
“… It’s a monster that steals your life force in your dreams—it appears as your ideal opposite sex in your dreams—naked and bare-bottomed.”
“P-Pervert?!!”
Lysette instinctively cried out.
Perverted monsters, ruthless and shameless.
“Isn’t that just perverted?! No matter how ideal your partner is, it’s just scary when you come out like that!”
“It can’t be helped because it’s true.”
” …Seriously, who would fall for such a monster?!”
Leonhardt quickly averts his eyes.
“…I’m not sure because I’ve never met one before.”
“…”
This seems suspicious to her. But she’s not interested in finding out. There are things in this world you don’t need to know.
Lysette extinguishes the magic fire and releases the barrier as the meal is finished and they are ready to leave.
Just as they are about to continue their exploration, Leonhardt’s expression changes. She follows his gaze and notices an unsteady figure approaching.
Lysette notices the details of a dazed gait as she prepares to cast her spell.
It was a beautiful woman.
She had long black hair and morbid white skin. Her clothes were dirty and she had no shoes on. She seems to have been held captive for a long time and managed to escape.
The woman looks at them with tired eyes and says in a trembling voice.
“Please help me…. Please help me…”
“Are you okay!!?”
Lysette, who was about to run to her, is calmly stopped by Leonhardt, who stands in front of her.
The woman’s moist eyes look up at Leonhardt as if appealing to him.
“Please help me—my friends are…”
“…All right. We will go. Please show me the way.”
“Yes, thank you—this way…”
The woman leads them through the corridors of the labyrinth.
The woman is uncertain, but she seems physically strong and walks without stopping. She must be eager to help her friends as quickly as possible.
Lysette tenses up; she can’t shake an uneasy feeling that has been plaguing her for a few minutes. It’s as if an unknown insect is coiling around her feet.
Then…
Before the deep darkness, the woman’s footsteps come to a halt.
Behind the darkness lies a room. In the back of the room some black shadows were moving.
They were walking corpses. A swarm of moving corpses with blue-black skin and yellow fangs and claws stared at them.
—Zombies? No, that’s!
“It’s a group of ghouls! Lysette!”
“I got it! Fire arrows!”
Flaming arrows are fired from behind Leonhardt’s 【Holy-Shield】.
【Appraisal】Ghoul. A being whose corpse is haunted by a ghost.
The flaming arrows from the front pierce the ghouls who have rushed to the narrow exit.
The flames consume the corpse from within. Leonhardt’s 【Holy-Shield】 kept the ghouls at bay as they burned until they were reduced to ash before Lysette’s eyes.
“Zombies and ghouls are two different monsters. Both have human corpses and try to eat humans, but the ghouls are smarter.”
Leonhardt says this after the enemy is completely gone.
“The female form of the ghoul is particularly intelligent and attractive and tries to seduce living humans.”
“How did Leon find out…?”
The beautiful ghoul lady. The flames consumed her, as they did all the other ghouls.
“Yes, her face was made up, but the rest of her skin was pale and she smelled like a corpse.”
“Ah, I see…”
Lysette realized how inexperienced she was.
This is a dungeon, the lair of a monster. Monsters have intelligence and appetites and will devour you if you’re not careful.
“In the dungeon, it’s eat or be eaten…”
Lysette took this fact to heart once again and continued her way through the darkness of the dungeon.
“… No, they don’t usually eat you.”
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